Charity Hall: A Foundational Report of a 19th-Century Chickasaw Mission

Abstract

Toward the end of the 18th-century, the newly independent United States deliberated solutions to the “problem” in which Natives occupied lands that Euro-American settlers desired. The Civilization Fund Act was implemented in 1819 as one of the solutions, and it supported groups, like missionary organizations, to instruct Natives in Western culture. Charity Hall, a Presbyterian mission to the Chickasaws, was created as a result of the Act and can offer information regarding Native American accommodation and contestation to Western practices. While historical records provide ample information about the workings of Charity Hall, archaeological studies aim to make up for the lack of the Chickasaw voice in these records.